Hunting & Fishing Pocket gophers how do you get them to pop up???

[joeplumb]

Have issue with pocket gophers on farm between corn field which is not planted yet and lawn. Any ideas on how to get them to pop up so can shoot them? Assume they are pocket gophers based on the large dirt mounds but not seen them. Live in southern Minnesota in farm country. Thanks

 

[richard1]

Re: Pocket gophers how do you get them to pop up???

never saw them POP up. We always trapped them by digging a hole to set the trap at the junction of tunnels at the base of the horseshoe in the mound. Then we covered the hole with plywood and dirt.

 

[SheepsClothes]

Re: Pocket gophers how do you get them to pop up???

I heard about this 3rd or 4th person. Looks interesting.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2umEFHeo6mw

 

[tullius]

Re: Pocket gophers how do you get them to pop up???

The pocket gopher rarely shows itself above ground. Trapping with the Macabee trap is the best way to control them.

 

[SledDog]

Re: Pocket gophers how do you get them to pop up???

Assuming the idea is to get some target practice, I don't have any help. However if you're trying to get rid of them altogether you can try something I use on moles. Juicy Fruit gum. Moles (and most other rodents, supposedly) love the smell but can't digest it. So I dig up the mounds, tuck pieces of gum in the tunnel, and close the mound back up. They eat it, get ultra-constipation, and die.

Lots of folks say it's a wives tale, but it works for me, sometimes it takes a few rounds depending how many moles/gophers there are.

 

[Searcher]

Re: Pocket gophers how do you get them to pop up???

Living on a farm, you probably have an Oxy/Acetylene torch available for equipment repair. Just like SheepsCloths link to the rodenator, you can use the torch to blow the gopher tunnels.

I ignite the gas using a modified tazer. I have 10' of wire running from the high voltage contacts of a tazer to two nails that are taped to a 1" diameter by 2" long piece of PVC pipe.

I have my valves marked where I get a good cutting flame so I can easily dial in the mixture. Open up the hole, insert the PVC with the nails pointing inward, put the end of the torch in the hole. Cover up the hole with dirt and open the valves. Count to 30 then close the valves. Press the button on the tazer and away she goes.

A word of warning. You have no idea of the configuration of the burrow so the blast you get could be anything from a deep rumble to a fiery blast that will catch dry vegetation on fire at multiple locations up to 30 feet away.

I have tried trapping, poison, electric and wind noise makers, gopher smoke bombs and road flares. Non of that works as well as blowing the tunnels up. It certainly is more satisfying bringing the fight to the gopher too.

 

[Utah Shooter]

Re: Pocket gophers how do you get them to pop up???

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: SheepsClothes</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I heard about this 3rd or 4th person. Looks interesting.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2umEFHeo6mw </div></div>
That is flipping awesome.

 

[Joe Myles]

Re: Pocket gophers how do you get them to pop up???

I have good luck with the black box traps if your looking to get rid of them. They don't come out of the ground very often for the shot.

 

[skinney_7]

Re: Pocket gophers how do you get them to pop up???

when we see the mounds starting and they are fresh, we grab a 5 gallon bucket and the ol shotty, sit really still, no movement, and wait, when you see the dirt move, they usually pop up, and the scatter gun, will pull them out of their hole real nicely.

 

[Teamor]

Re: Pocket gophers how do you get them to pop up???

i have a pocket gopher problem too but im pretty sure its a totaly different species of pocket gopher than what your talking about ha